Guerrilla urbanism: urban design and the practices of resistance

Abstract

Unsanctioned, unscripted, and seemingly "undesirable" activities have long appropriated urban spaces in routine and sometimes unexpected ways, bringing new meanings and unforeseen functions to those places. In the last decade or so, such practices have inspired a growing movement under the banner of DIY and tactical urbanisms. The growing acceptance of these practices creates important openings in the formalized planning systems for greater flexibility and expedient change. Yet, the institutionalization of previously informal and even subversive acts has resulted in concerns regarding co-optation and de-politicization. This special issue seeks to pivot a refocus towards these unsanctioned and unscripted urban activities as a form of counter-hegemonic spatial practices, distinct from its professionalized and institutionalized counterpart. A range of cases is examined here sharing similar characteristics as challenges against the prevailing social and political paradigm. Key findings include the scalability of guerrilla actions, the fluid shift between overt and covert actions, and the linkage between everyday struggles and organized resistance. This special issue is intended to advance our understanding of urban design by situating it in a broader social, economic, and political praxis that encompasses both formal and informal practices performed by a wide variety of individual and collective actors.Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Change by Activism: Insurgency, Autonomy, and Political Activism in Potosí-Jerusalén, Bogotá, Colombia

“…Nonetheless, despite its activist origins, tactical urbanism has slowly been integrated into the workings of the formal sector. Thus, it has arguably been co-opted by the neoliberal agenda (Hou, 2020;Mould, 2014), which has reduced its capacity to tap into the realm of the Political. Hou (2010Hou ( , 2020 proposes the concept of guerrilla urbanism as a form of insurgent spatial practice against the prevailing political conditions.…”

“…Thus, it has arguably been co-opted by the neoliberal agenda (Hou, 2020;Mould, 2014), which has reduced its capacity to tap into the realm of the Political. Hou (2010Hou ( , 2020 proposes the concept of guerrilla urbanism as a form of insurgent spatial practice against the prevailing political conditions. These are unsanctioned and informal actions by the disenfranchised and underprivileged in their everyday struggles.…”

Punctual Urbanisms: Rapid Planning Responses to Urban Problems

“…Guerilla activists employ unanticipated approaches to yield provocative political messages and results (Caldwell et al 2015) accompanied by a condemnation of established planning policies (de la Peña 2019). Hou (2020) highlights how guerrilla urbanism emphasizes the importance of social and political resistances through urban design.…”

How Does The [Un]Grounded Interface Generate Possibilities for Spatial Alternatives?

“…This means that signs of potential alternatives cannot be found at frozen moments in space or time; they are likely to be situated within ongoing processes of discontinuous change (De Roo 2018). Glimmers of potential hope are entangled with the ordinary, scattered, and spontaneous mo(ve)ments of everyday life (Coles 2016), which may gradually provide conditions of possibility for radical mobilizations to emerge (Hou 2020). These mobilizations would then manifest as intensified aggregations of such seemingly scattered mo(ve)ments.…”

“…Either in the highly regulated cities of the North or in the post-colonial mega cities of the South, informality is an essential part of urban life which cannot be reduced. Whether through practices of 'guerilla urbanism' (Hou 2020) or 'insurgent urbanism' (Holston 2009), citizens always find ways to transgress the limits of what is formally allowed to be done in public space. Consequently, some potential alternatives spontaneously emerge due to informal practices by which citizens adjust existing urban orders to suit their daily needs.…”